Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

0

Better Business Focus is the essential key for business owners and managers. It achieves that by focusing on the way in which successful businesses

compete and manage their organisations. It focuses on how people are recruited, coached and developed; on how marketing and selling is undertaken

in professional markets as well as in markets with intense competition; on how technology and the Internet is reshaping the face of domestic and home

business; and on how people are being equipped with new skills and techniques. In short, it offers expert inspiration for a better business.

Better Business Focus

Expert inspiration for a Better Business

September 2017

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

1

7

9

10

12

13

14

How small

businesses can

benefit from digital

transformation Victoria Greene

Ten top tips for

speakers Paul Sloane

Have an art

attack….. Sunil Bali

The essential 4-step

product innovation

process based on

Design Thinking –

with Gordon Stannis Chad McAllister

Friction free

response Drayton

Bird

How to educate for

the future – Not

the past Greg Satell

How to craft a

compelling business

story in four steps Benjamin Ball

Engage your team

for optimum

performance! Kevin

Stansfield

Top 10 business

books I

recommend to

CEOs Rob Garibay

This month’s contents

3

5

6

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

2

17

18

20

26

28

23

Who is your story

about? John Niland

Make your

presentations

interactive and

interesting Andy

Bounds

Eleven reasons for

the UK’s poor

productivity Paul

Sloane

Five weird tips for

great meetings Alexander Kjerulf

Momentum Barry

Urquhart

The effect of a

blame culture Paul

Matthews

Why Amazon still acts

like a start-up (even

though it makes more

than $100 billion a

year) Sonia Thompson

Are you throwing

darts in the dark? Melanie Greene

The four paths to

business growth Xavier Russo

This month’s contents

16

31

24

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

3

Small businesses stand to gain a lot by embracing the digital

opportunities available to them.

Digital can help improve

operations, finances, marketing,

HR....the list goes on.

Not convinced? Here are

some solid examples of how

small businesses can benefit

from digital transformation,

helping them cut costs and

improve efficiency across the

board.

Reaching audiences

cost-effectively & social

selling What are people doing almost

all of the time? Why, they’re

checking their social media

feeds. So wouldn’t it be great

if your business was on there

too? Use the power of

social to reach more

customers without having

to resort to sales.

Social media has changed the

ways in which small businesses

approach marketing. Instead of

expensive radio spots and ads,

local businesses can transform

their sales and business

development operations by

taking control and getting out

there, talking to customers

face-to-face.

• Facebook is ideal for all

kinds of businesses. You

could share photos of

aesthetically pleasing

products, links back to

content on your website,

and even witty one-liners

or reactive videos. All of

this sharing helps increase

brand awareness and drive

social traffic back to your

site, and it also helps

strengthen the power of

your Facebook business

page.

Tip: always look out for

reviews and comments on

there, and make sure you

keep on top of them with

suitable responses

• Twitter: While decreasing

in popularity, Twitter is

still an excellent platform

for marketing. Being

forced to adhere to its

140 character limit means

that marketers are forced

to be snappy and concise.

This platform is especially

good for directly targeting

prospects and can help

you expand your social

reach. Hashtags can also

be used to make sure that

your tweets reach the

right people.

Victoria Greene

How small businesses can benefit from digital

transformation

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

4

• Instagram: This is a great

platform for creative or

fashion products. Using

lots of appropriate

hashtags, you can make

sure that photos of your

products are seen by as

many people as possible.

Slightly more niche than

the other two, but ideal if

you are selling something

more visual, Instagram has

a young and engaged user

demographic.

Use the power of social to

connect directly with

customers, and reinforce real

life customer/brand ties with

witty content and positive

exchanges.

Opening up your products and services

to the world Businesses in small, remote

locations stand to reach a

much larger number of people

if they also start selling via the

internet. When you open an

online branch, you have the

potential to sell to anyone in

the world (with an internet

connection).

These days, getting set up and

running with a website or

online store has been

simplified to the extent that

everyone and anyone can start

making an online store

themselves, without having to

lean on software engineers or

complex IT infrastructure.

From a payment perspective,

digital transformation has

created an increasingly

cashless society — people

now use mobile apps, not

bank cards, to complete

transactions.

Here are a two other small

business benefits of selling

online:

• If somebody comes to

your physical store and

buys something they like,

an ecommerce website

will give them a chance to

buy from you again, even

when they’re not nearby.

These days consumers

transcend the borders

between online/offline

almost instinctively.

• It broadens your appeal

and makes you accessible

to those who are less

mobile, and it also appeals

to a younger demographic

who are used to making

quick fire smartphone

purchases.

Taking digital one step

further Of course, doing a bit of social

media marketing and opening

up an ecommerce store is

great, but there’s actually a lot

more you could be doing

digitally — and it’s not all

immediately connected to

sales or marketing.

Here are a few examples of

digital technologies and

strategies that could benefit

your business:

• Online accounting and

bookkeeping can help

endlessly simplify small

business life! Most of the

tools and products are

easy to use and can be

seamlessly integrated into

existing business practices

as you can scan in receipts,

letters, and contracts.

• Creating an app will give

you a way to reach your

customers at all times.

Notifications can alert

them to sales and special

offers throughout the day.

Small businesses should

also think about how

internal apps can help

solve logistical and

operational problems.

• Providing live chat services

on your website will mean

that customers with

questions can get them

answered instantly in real

time — saving you

valuable time and allowing

you to cut back on

inbound customer calls.

• The internet can also be a

valuable research tool. If

you want your business to

be different from others

(as discussed before), you

can use the internet to

find out what your

competitors are doing and

then make sure you’ve got

enough of a USP to stand

out from the crowd. Use

Google Alerts to keep on

top of what’s happening in

your industry and who the

game-changers are going

to be.

© Copyright, Victoria Greene

About the Author Victoria Greene is a Brand

Consultant and Freelance

Writer. Working with

ecommerce businesses and

SEO teams, she has a lot of

experience of making websites

a success on the internet.

Taking full advantage of the

internet’s international reach

is something Victoria has seen

bring success to numerous

businesses. She believes

business goals can only be

reached with a unified content

marketing and commercial

strategy. She helps

ecommerce brands, start-ups

and digital agencies achieve

branded business strategies

and deliver content that drives

leads and engagement.

Co-ordinates Address:

444 W Lake Street Suite 1700

Chicago, IL 60606, USA

Email:

hello@victoriaecommerce.com

Telephone: (USA):

001 312-957-4726

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

5

If you want to speak like a professional speaker then here are

ten great tips:

1. Before you start to

compose your talk

think about the single

most important point

you want to get across.

Audiences cannot absorb a

large number of messages.

So make sure that your

key theme is not lost in a

plethora of ancillary topics

and stories. Patricia Fripp

gives this advice. If you did

not have 45 minutes but

just one sentence what

would you say? That is the

central point of your

speech. Create your talk

around that.

2. Build a structure. Your

talk should have a simple

and clear structure to it.

For example you might

start by stating a problem

that affects the listeners.

You might explain what

causes the problem and

why it is serious. You

might then introduce your

proposal for solving the

problem. Then you might

finish with a summary and

a call to action that lucidly

states what you want them

to do. Whatever the topic,

your talk should build in a

logical way so that your

audience can easily follow

your train of thought.

3. Include more stories.

People relate to stories. If

you have an important

message to get across

about say customer

service then you could use

charts and graphs and data

on customer satisfaction.

But it would almost

certainly be better to tell a

story about someone who

gave great customer

service and the impact that

it had. Set the scene,

describe the characters,

tell the story and draw out

the lesson.

4. Give the person who

introduces you a

concise written

introduction script so

they position you

correctly. The

introduction should

establish your authority

and expertise. It should

mention your topic and

why you are worth

listening to. It should not

be long nor full of

exaggerated claims about

how wonderful and

hilarious you are.

5. Always arrive early.

Don’t catch a plane or

train that just gets you

there just in time. Catch

an earlier one. Arrive at

least one hour before you

are due to speak. Check

the logistics, microphone,

stage, video, audio etc.

Chat to the organizer to

get a good feel for the

event and the audience

before you set foot on the

stage.

6. Use a microphone. For

any group of over say 40

and for any after-dinner

talk a microphone is vital.

It gives you authority,

clarity and control. A clip-

on is probably best. Do a

microphone check before

you go on stage. Please do

not start by asking ‘Can

you hear me at the back?’

It is the mark of an

amateur.

7. Your first line should

have real impact. Start

with a bang. You could

offer a startling statement,

a provocative question, a

remarkable fact, an

interesting quote or a

funny short joke. Practice

this line and deliver it with

verve and confidence.

Look them in the Eye. Do

not hide behind a lectern

or read from your notes.

Walk about the stage, look

directly at people and talk

to them from your heart.

Eye contact is important. It

engages the audience and

raises the level of the talk.

Paul Sloane

Ten top tips for speakers

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

6

8. Pause. The most

powerful weapon in the

speaker’s armoury is the

pause. Use it carefully and

it will rivet your listeners.

For example use it before

an important item, after a

question or before

delivering the punch line

to your story.

9. When you get a

question from a

member of the

audience, repeat it.

There are two reasons.

Many members of the

audience will not have

heard the question and

they want to know what

you are answering.

Secondly it gives you just a

little more time to

consider your answer.

Rehearse your talk and deliver

it with confidence and

enthusiasm. Your audience

wants you to succeed.

© Copyright, Paul Sloane

About the Author: Paul was part of the team

which launched the IBM PC in

the UK in 1981. He became

MD of database company

Ashton-Tate. In 1993 Paul

joined MathSoft, publishers of

mathematical software as VP

International. He became CEO

of Monactive, a British

software company which

publishes software asset

management tools. In 2002

he founded his own company,

Destination Innovation, which

helps organisations improve

innovation. He writes and

speaks on lateral thinking and

innovation. His latest book is

The Leader’s Guide to Lateral

Thinking Skills published by

Kogan-Page.

Co-ordinates: Web: www.destination-

innovation.com E-mail: psloane@destination-

innovation.com Tel: +44 (0)7831 112321

Research shows that

smelling crayons can

reduce your blood pressure by 10 points.

When you smell crayons you

almost always, either:

• focus completely on the

smell of the crayons and

let go of any negative

thoughts or,

• recall a happy childhood

image or memory

In my seminars, I sometimes

ask people to draw a very

quick picture of a tea cup and

saucer – they’ve got 15

seconds to do it. Do this now,

or at least imagine the picture

that you would draw.

I can make a prediction. Your

drawing, just like virtually all

the other drawings I’ve ever

seen, is taken from a side view

rather than a bird’s eye view,

and the cup is in the saucer.

Am I right?

Why does this happen?

Because, before you even

begin to think about the

drawing, your brain has

created your frame of

reference.

When the same experiment is

done with 5 year old children

however, a significant

proportion of children will

draw the cup and saucer from

a bird’s eye view, and a few

will even draw the cup out of

the saucer, on its side, or

upside down.

As we get older we tend to

see the world through a filter

of preconceived ideas.

Drawing, painting, playing a

musical instrument, or an

activity that makes your heart

sing, will increase your ability

to see more options and be

more creative.

Time for an art attack?

Moving minds -

Transforming

performance

© Copyright, Sunil Bali

About the Author Sunil is a Performance Coach,

Speaker and Author.

Ex Head of Talent for

Vodafone Group and

Santander, and having run a

£50m business, Sunil has been

responsible for hiring over

50000 people and has had the

pleasure of working with some

great entrepreneurs,

professionals and leaders.

Co-ordinates E-mail: sunil@sunilbali.com Web: www.sunilbali.com

LinkedIn:

uk.linkedin.com/in/sunilbali1

Sunil Bali

Have an art attack…..

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

7

I love hearing how companies are creating successful products that

provide customers value, which is

the topic of this episode. Gordon

Stannis, the Director of Design and Strategy at Twisthink shares

their approach to developing

innovative solutions for their

Fortune 500 clients. Gordon

started his work as an industrial designer and then moved into

product development and

management roles.

We discuss the process

Gordon uses for creating

innovative products, and he

shares the product journey of

a tool for competitive swim

coaches as an example of

the process.

Summary of some

concepts discussed

• How has product

design changed?

15 years ago clients told us

what they wanted and we

would design a product

that met their needs.

Today we design user

experiences, services, and

products as an integrated

package after first

discovering unmet needs

of customers. The

creation of tangible

products has shifted to the

creation of services.

• What is your approach

to designing products?

First, we align our language

with our clients. We need

to be chameleons and use

the language our clients

do. We understand them

and their needs. We use

the analogy of bridges half

constructed because we

build bridges between

where clients are with

their product needs and

where they want to go.

We embrace failing as part

of the design process, and

we plan to fail a lot during

the front-end of product

design so we don’t fail on

the back-end. Failing

simple means we are

learning. When we fail we

learn knowledge that

competitors are unlikely

to have. Failure Lab is a

useful site that showcases

the learning from personal

stories of failure.

• What are the steps in

your process?

What is interesting is how

the process has changed

over our history. 15 years

ago clients provided

marketing requirements

documents. We haven’t

seen those in years – no

one has time for such

documents anymore.

Now, we identify the “hill”

the client wants to pursue.

This is investigated during

the initial discussions with

the client. This is like

therapy sessions – you

could call it innovation

counseling to discern

where they want to go and

why they want to go

there. This is the first step.

• What is the next step?

At some point during the

innovation counseling

sessions, someone will

share a magic sentence that

becomes the North Star

for the project – a clear

sentence that describes

where we are heading. For

example, in one session

the North Star statement

was “we want to use

design technology and

strategy to allow a coach

to be a better coach and

Chad McAllister

The essential 4-step product innovation

process based on Design Thinking – with

Gordon Stannis

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

8

an athlete to be a better

self-coach.” This example

became a product used by

13 USA Olympic

swimming champions. We

then build plans to support

the North Star.

• What comes after the

North Star?

We have to understand

the market and develop a

great depth of empathy for

the customer. We hang

out with the customer in

their environment.

Continuing the example,

we hung out at pools

where high-end

competitive coaches work,

to understand what they

want to accomplish and

the challenges involved.

From this, we create a

picture of what would be

valuable to customers.

• What do you do with

the understanding of

the customers’

problem?

We fast forward and do

pre-design. This is not a

real solution design phase

but a quick and intuitive

view of what elements of a

solution could look like.

For the swim coach

challenge, we took our

understanding of the

problem and made simple

prototypes and a product

video showing the

prototypes in use. We had

the opportunity to attend

a swim coach tradeshow

to get feedback from

coaches. We created a

fake company and had a

booth at the show with

our simple prototypes and

product video. We told

coaches we could collect

10 metrics from a

swimmer and we asked

hundreds of coaches

which of the 10 were most

important.

We left the show with a

priority ranked set of

metrics, knowing what was

most important to the

customer. In a sense, this

was an elaborate smoke

test. The same can be

done with a Kickstarter

campaign.

• Knowing the product

priorities, what comes

next?

For the swim coach

problem, we had technical

challenges to overcome.

This requires engineering

exploration to solve the

issues and find technical

solutions.

• Is there more to the

solution?

From the tradeshow, we

knew what metrics swim

coaches needed, but we

still had to design the user

experience so the data

would be instantly

understood and

appreciated by coaches.

We designed variations

and showed them to

coaches. We used the

smile test – if the coaches

smiled instantly when they

saw the data displayed, we

knew we had the right

design. For this product,

getting the digital

dashboard “right” was

essential to its success.

The right dashboard

creates demand from

customers for the

solution.

• Is there more to this

process?

The cycle is: create,

prototype, test, learn and

then repeat. In my

experience, I have found

that six cycles should be

used. No one has ever

regretted doing one more

cycle but they have

regretted not doing

another cycle. Remember

you are not your

customer; you have a lot

to learn about their needs

and what solution will

provide the most value.

© Copyright, Chad McAllister

About the Author Chad is the host of The

Everyday Innovator podcast

(Inc. Magazine’s 10 Best

Podcasts for Innovators),

author of Turning Ideas into

Market-Winning Products, and

founder of Product Innovation

Educators.

He has also been recognized

as Top 40 Product

Management Influencer and a

Top 10 Innovation Blogger.

He helps product managers

become Product Masters. He

has trained product managers

at Microsoft, Kind Snacks,

Level 3, Kohler, John Deer,

J.D. Power, GHX, FedEx,

Cummins, Compassion,

Clorox, Cisco, Mastercard,

SAIC, Thomson Reuters,

Xerox, and many others.

Product Masters create more

successful products, gain

influence throughout their

organizations, and accelerate

their careers.

Co-ordinates Web:

productinnovationeducators.c

om/

and

TheEverydayInnovator.com

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

9

Here's a quickie for you today.

Do you know that dire old joke

about a man waiting for the bus who had a carrot in his ear?

A helpful passer-by said, "Excuse

me, do you know there's a

carrot stuck in your ear?"

The reply (in case you didn't

know) was, "Sorry, I can't hear

you. I've got a carrot stuck in my

ear".

Ba-doom!

Sorry about that - I'll find a

better joke next time.

But the reason I told it was that

it's relevant, because quite a few

businesses have carrots stuck in

their ears, and it's costing them

a fortune.

I gave you a good example not

long ago - the "IDMF Team" -

that hydra-headed beast that

sends out e-mails - but doesn't

reply.

But there are plenty more:

usually people who broadcast e-

mails, but also big, fat, lazy,

greedy, stupid firms like AOL -

which fittingly rhymes with rot

in hell.

Not to mention all the people

like them who ask you to fill in a

questionnaire about their alleged

service - then never reply to a

specific comment you have, let

alone tell you what the results of

the survey were.

Years ago the direct marketing

business was often called the

direct response business. But of

course, it's not a one-way affair -

and those who act as though it is

are being exceptionally stupid.

So, my next hint: always make it

easy for people to respond and

never send out a message where

they can't.

That means, if they want to

write, let them; if they want to

phone, let them; if they want to

e-mail, let them. And if they

want to come and see you, let

them.

There's an old phrase that

applies: the customer is always

right.

Rather obvious, you may say -

but many seemingly intelligent

people running big organisations

ignore it.

Who are the biggest culprits?

Probably the banks and

broadband "suppliers". True,

they often allow you to reply -

nowadays usually to somewhere

in India.

And I feel really sorry for the

poor souls who answer. They

don't know Streatham from

Iceland, they're given a script

which makes no allowances for

anything beyond the predictable,

and they're being harassed to

handle so many calls an hour.

Of course the consequence of

all this never occurs to the

supercilious "strategic planners"

in Canary Wharf.

They get away with it, in the

case of things like broadband

because when everyone wants

it, marketing doesn't matter.

But it will all come back to haunt

these people as increasingly we

sheep refuse to be shorn so

easily.

And there are two reasons:

1. The internet, which allows

people to shout their

grievances to the world.

2. Competition.

You don't believe me? Well,

remember when the banks only

opened when it suited them.

They've come a long way - but

not far enough.

Enough of this ranting!

Best, Drayton © Copyright, Drayton Bird

About the Author In 2003, the Chartered Institute

of Marketing named Drayton

Bird one of 50 living individuals

who have shaped today’s

marketing. He has spoken in 53

countries for many

organisations, and much of what

he discusses derive from his

work with many of the world’s

greatest brands. These include

American Express, Audi,

Bentley, British Airways, Cisco,

Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM,

McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft,

Nestle, Philips, Procter &

Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa

and Volkswagen. In various

capacities – mostly as a writer –

Drayton has helped sell

everything from Airbus planes to

Peppa Pig. His book,

Commonsense Direct and Digital

Marketing, out in 17 languages,

has been the UK’s best seller on

the subject every year since

1982.

Co-ordinates Drayton Bird Associates

Web: http://draytonbird.com

Tel: +44 (0) 845 3700 121

Email:

drayton@draytonbird.com or

db@draytonbird.com

Drayton Bird

Friction free response

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

10

Our education system was designed for the 20th century. It is

mostly focused on teaching

kids how to retain information and

manipulate numbers. It regularly

tests these abilities and, if you do well, you are promised to

get into a good college, have a

successful career and live a happy,

prosperous life.

Unfortunately, those promises

have become empty. Today,

when we all carry around

supercomputers in our

pocket, tasks like

remembering facts and doing

long division have largely been

automated. The truth is, there

is little that we learned in

school that can’t now be

handled with a quick Google

search and an Excel

spreadsheet.

Clearly, we need to rethink

education. Our kids will face a

much different world than we

live in now. In fact, a study at

Oxford concluded that nearly

half of the jobs that exist

today will be automated in the

next 20 years. To prepare for

the future, we need to replace

our regimented education

system with one that fosters

skills like teamwork,

communication and

exploration.

Teamwork

Traditionally, schoolwork has

been based on individual

accomplishment. You’re

supposed to study at home,

come in prepared and take

your test without help. If you

look at your friend’s paper, it’s

called cheating and you get in

a lot of trouble for it. We’re

taught to be accountable for

achievements on our own

merits.

Yet consider how the nature

of work has changed, even in

highly technical fields. In 1920,

most scientific papers were

written by sole authors, but by

1950 that had changed and co-

authorship became the norm.

Today, the average paper has

four times as many authors as

it did then and the work being

done is far more

interdisciplinary and done at

greater distances than in the

past.

Make no mistake. The high

value work today is being

done in teams and that will

only increase as more jobs

become automated. The jobs

of the future will not depend

on specific expertise or

crunching numbers, but will

involve humans collaborating

with other humans to design

work for machines.

Clearly, value has shifted from

cognitive skills to social skills,

which is one reason why

educators see increasing value

in recess. Unfortunately, very

few schools have adapted.

Many are so unaware of the

value of social interaction and

play that they still take recess

away as a punishment for bad

behavior. We desperately

need to shift the focus of our

schools to collaboration, play

and interpersonal skills.

Communicating

Effectively

In recent years, a lot of

emphasis has been put on the

need for stronger STEM

education to compete in an

ever more technological

world. However, there is

increasing evidence that the

STEM shortage is a myth and,

as Fareed Zakaria points out in

his book, In Defense of a

Liberal Education, what we

most need to improve is

communication skills.

To understand why, think

about an advanced technology

like IBM’s Watson, which is

being applied to fields as

diverse as medicine, finance

and even music. That takes

more than just technical skill,

but requires computer

scientists to work effectively

with experts in a wide variety

of fields.

In fact, Taso Du Val, CEO of

Toptal, an outsourcing firm

that focuses on the world’s

most elite technology talent

Greg Satell

How to educate for the future – Not the past

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

11

told me that when his

company evaluates

programmers, they not only

look at technical skills, but put

just as much emphasis on

communication skills, initiative

and teamwork. You simply

can’t write great code for a

problem you don’t fully

understand.

Clear and cogent writing,

critical thinking and learning

how to learn — to take in

disparate facts, put them in

context and express them

clearly — these are all skills

that will be even more crucial

for professionals in the future

than they are today.

Learning Patterns vs

Numbers

Of the “three R’s” that we

learned in school, arithmetic

was generally the most

dreaded. Multiplication tables,

long division and deceptively

constructed word problems

have been the bane of every

young student’s existence. In

my day, at least, the utility was

clear, but now children can

rightly ask “why can’t I use the

calculator on my phone?

Clearly, in our increasingly

data driven age, mathematical

skills are more important than

ever. Yet they are not the

same ones we learned in

school. It’s not so important

to be able to count and

multiply things — those tasks

are largely automated today

— but it’s imperative to be

able to ascribe meaning from

data.

Valdis Krebs of Orgnet

explains that “Schools are still

stuck on teaching 20th century

math for building things rather

than 21st century math for

understanding things” and

suggests that curriculums

focus less on the mathematics

of engineering (e.g. algebra and

calculus) and more on the

mathematics of patterns (e.g.

set theory, graph theory, etc.).

This may seem like a

newfangled idea, but in

actuality it is a shift to higher

level math. As the great

mathematician G.H. Hardy put

it, “A mathematician, like a

painter or a poet, is a maker

of patterns. If his patterns are

more permanent than theirs, it

is because they are made with

ideas.”

Focus on Exploring Rather

Than Knowing

Take a look at any basic

curriculum and there are lists

of things that kids are

supposed to know by the end

of the course. Dates of

historical events, mathematical

formulas, the name of specific

biological structures or

whatever. Yet today,

knowledge is a moving target.

Much of the information in

textbooks today will be

obsolete by the time our kids

start their careers.

Clearly, the notion that

education will give you

knowledge that will prepare

you for an entire career is

vastly outdated. Today we

need to prepare our kids for a

world that we don’t really

understand yet. How can we

possibly make good judgments

about what information they

need to know?

So instead of cramming their

heads full of disparate facts,

we need to give them the

ability to explore things for

themselves, take in new

information, make sense of it

and communicate what they’ve

learned to others. In a world

where technology is steadily

taking over tasks that were

once thought of distinctly

human, those are the skills

that will be most crucial.

In an age of disruption, the

most crucial ability is to adapt.

That is what we need to

prepare our kids to do.

This article originally appeared

in:

http://innovationexcellence.co

m/blog/2017/08/01/how-to-

educate-for-the-future-not-

the-past/

© Copyright, Greg Satell

About the Author: Greg Satell is a popular

author, speaker and innovation

advisor, whose work has

appeared in Harvard Business

Review, Forbes, Fast

Company, Inc. and other A-list

publications. Over the last 20

years he has managed market

leading businesses and

overseen the development of

dozens of pathbreaking

products.

Greg helps organizations to

grow through bringing “big

ideas into practice.” He applies

rigorous frameworks to

identify the right strategies for

the right problems, helps build

an “innovation playbook” to

tackle the challenges of the

future and drive

transformative change.

His first book, Mapping

Innovation: A Playbook For

Navigating A Disruptive Age was

published by McGraw-Hill in

2017.

Co-ordinates: LinkedIn: LinkedIn profile

Twitter: @DigitalTonto

Website:

www.digitaltonto.com/

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

12

Leaders tell stories so that

audiences listen, remember and act

on what they say.

But many business leaders shy

away from storytelling because

they don’t see the value, or

because they don’t know how to

do it. The good news is that you

don’t have to be an author or

orator to come up with an

effective story. Simply follow our

four-step process to effective

business storytelling:

1. Break it down

Breaking your story into three

parts can be a helpful way to

start: situation, complication and

resolution.

Almost every story has this basic

structure, from fairytales to

business anecdotes. In fact, your

story might only need to be

three lines long, as long as it

covers all three parts:

• The situation: what kind of

environment or characters

were you dealing with?

• The complication: what

hurdles, challenges or

problems did you face?

• The resolution: how did you

fix things, and what did you

learn along the way?

2. Use vivid language

Great storytellers pepper their

stories with sensory details that

spark the imagination. These

details make us feel like we’re

really there, right in the middle

of the action.

Using vivid language and imagery

will invoke the five senses of

your audience. It paints a mental

picture in their minds and

making them more receptive to

what you have to say. For

example, when describing a

product launch, you might say

“The new prototype was

Ferrari-red, with modules that

clicked into place like a seatbelt

into a buckle”.

3. Use metaphors and

analogies to make ideas

relatable

Do you go out of your way to

break down highly technical,

complex or scientific concepts

into easily understood ideas?

Metaphors and analogies can

help make even the most

complicated of topics relateable

to an audience, by comparing

the known to the unknown (or

turning dry stuff into more

interesting material).

Here’s an example of a

metaphor applied to the most

basic business context: A

fragmented business is like a leaky

bucket; it may still work but you

have to make a lot more trips to

get your water. If your business

is leaking money then you’ll have

to sell more to keep up. It’s far

easier to plug the leaks than to

keep going back to the well.

4. Engage your audience

with emotion

In business, speakers and

presenters too often try to

connect with people only on a

rational level. While your

audience may understand

exactly what you want them to

and why, they will only act on

your message if they

feel emotionally engaged.

As Maya Angelou said, “I’ve

learned that people will forget

what you said, people will forget

what you did, but people will

never forget how you made

them feel.”

If you’re telling a story about

how you changed the company’s

direction after misreading the

market, describe the

consequences of that mistake.

Reveal how you felt when you

realised things needed to

change. Then talk of the

frustrations of making those

changes, and your joy and relief

once they were implemented, as

well as the positive impact they

had on customers and

employees.

This article originally appeared

on:

www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-

craft-compelling-business-story-

four-steps-benjamin-

ball?published=t

© Copyright, Benjamin Ball

About the Author: With a focus on improving

financial presentations and

increasing pitch win rates, Ben

advises business leaders how to

present themselves in front of

investors, clients and the media.

Over the last 10 years Ben has

built this company’s systematic

approach to pitch coaching and

presentation training. He works

with entrepreneurs, senior

managers and leaders of major

corporations. Clients he has

advised include Permira, Statoil,

Microsoft, Worldpay and

Olswang as well as many private

equity firms. Previously Ben was

a corporate financier at dot com

specialist Durlacher following

senior roles at Pearson, Cable

and Wireless and the BBC. He is

a regular speaker at financial

conferences including Super

Return and GAIM.

Co-ordinates: Web: http://benjaminball.com/

LinkedIn:

linkedin.com/in/benjaminballtrain

ing/

Benjamin Ball

How to craft a compelling

business story in four steps

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

13

Many businesses out there - no matter what size they are, how long

they’ve been trading or what sector

they are in - are not achieving the

success they could, because their

teams are not performing to their full potential. This is no different to

what happens in sporting teams. Just

look at the England Football team in

the Euro 2016 competition, and in

fact in many other championships they have played in.

There is so much potential out on the

field, yet the performance that is

delivered is woefully below our expectations.

In business, research has shown

the following:

• 13% of staff are

ENGAGED – they go

above and beyond what is

expected;

• 67% of staff are

DISENGAGED – they just

do the minimum to get by;

• 20% are ACTIVELY

DISENGAGED – they

impact negatively on

productivity and morale in

the workplace.

So, if you have a team of 10

people, the chances are that

only one of them is anywhere

near to reaching peak

performance!

How is this relevant to

YOUR business? Well, let’s

look at the net result of an

under-performing team. We

are not talking a bad team

here, we are just talking

about a team performing

at 80 – 90% of their full

potential.

Here’s an example for you to

ponder: If your marketing

team generated 10% less

leads than they could, your

sales team converted 10%

less sales than they could,

your account managers failed

to up-sell 10% of the time

and lost 10% more

customers than they should,

and your operations team

were 10% less efficient than

they should be, what do you

think would be the

cumulative impact on your

profit?

Well, the fact is that it would be

a staggering 40% less that it

could be if the team were

performing at 100%; or to look

at it another way, if you could

improve all your team’s

performance by 10%, then

you would gain 66% in your

profits.

And it gets better: if the team

are performing at 20%

below their potential, then

you could be looking at

more than a 200% potential

improvement in profits, if

you could maximize

performance!

I know, it’s hard to believe, right?

Well, to prove it, the Table

opposite shows how those

numbers work in practice.

Hopefully now you can see why

focusing on getting your team

performing to the best of their

ability is so important!

© Copyright, Kevin Stansfield

About the Author Kevin is the MD and founder of

ActionCOACH Solent the leading

business coaching and training firm

in Southampton, Hampshire, where

his team work with owner run

businesses, helping them create

better lives through Business

Improvement and Growth. Kevin

has attained numerous Regional,

European and Global awards. He is

also a global speaker and trainer and

has qualifications in areas as varied

as an MBA, NLP, ECi and DISC. His

life prior to coaching started as a

Chartered Accountant which soon

led to becoming a freelance FD of

various fast growth companies. As a

keen sportsman he believes whole

heartedly that nobody achieves their

full potential without appropriate

training and coaching.

Co-ordinates Mail: ActionCOACH

1st Floor, Boyatt Wood District Centre,

Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO55 4QP, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 2380 560833

Mob: +44 (0) 7720 292032

Email:

kevinstansfield@actioncoach.com

Kevin Stansfield

Engage your team for optimum

performance!

Potential

performance

Actual

performance - 10% down

Actual

performance - 20% down

Number of leads 1,000 900 800

Conversion rate % 30% 27% 24%

Average £ sale £1,000 £900 £800

Number of transactions per

customer

2 1.8 1.6

Total sales £ £600,000 £393,660 £245,760

Profit margin % 25% 23% 20%

Total profit £ £150,000 £90,541 £49,152

£ Loss in profit

due to

underperformance

£59,459 £100,848

% Loss in profit

due to

underperformance

39.60% 67.20%

Increase in profit

possible at full

performance %

65.60% 205.10%

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

14

A business will not outgrow the

leader. Reading books is vital to

your growth as a business owner!

In my line of work, many of

my clients are CEOs of multi-

million dollar companies. To

be a successful business coach,

I have to outlearn all of them. I

am constantly reading-

constantly feeding my brain.

Out of the hundreds of books

I’ve read on business, these

are my top ten books I

recommend:

1. Scaling Up by Verne

Harnish:

Best overall book on

business that I’ve read!

This is the #1 book I

recommend to my clients.

It covers almost all areas

of scaling a business in a

very actionable way. Many

CEOs have made fortunes

from the concepts

contained within this

book.

2. The Great Game of

Business by Jack Stack:

This book introduces an

entirely different way of

running a company. Jack

Stack shares his secrets on

how he transformed a

failing business and into a

money generating

machine! He increased

employee engagement by

teaching his employees

how to read the

company’s financials and

giving them a stake in the

success of the business.

3. Predictable Success by

Les McKeown:

I love how this book

provides insight into the

growth stages that

businesses go through, the

pitfalls that accompany

each stage, and how to

blow through those pitfalls

to reach the area to which

all business owners aspire,

called “Predictable

Success.”

4. Great by Choice by Jim

Collins:

Good to Great is a well-

known classic masterpiece

on how to build a great

company. Great by Choice

takes the Good to Great

principles, taken from

large publicly traded

companies, and distills

them into how mid-sized

companies can become

great.

5. 5 Dysfunctions of a

Team by Patrick Lencioni:

Most leadership teams are

dysfunctional. Patrick

Lencioni brilliantly unpacks

why they are dysfunctional

and how to transform

your leadership team into

a highly trusting, aligned,

accountable and

committed group.

6. Hiring for Attitude by

Mark Murphy:

This is one of the best

books on the difficult

challenge of assembling a

championship team of A-

Players. Mark Murphy

provides succinct ways to

transform your hiring

results so that you

substantially improve the

quality of your team.

7. The Work of Leaders

by Straw, Scullard,

Kukkonen, & Davis:

This book teaches you the

primary focus of every

leader. Great leaders must

cast a compelling vision,

align their team behind

their vision, and execute

superbly to accomplish the

vision. Great leaders are

made, not born.

Rob Garibay

Top 10 business books I recommend

to CEOs

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

15

8. The Goal by Eliyahu

Goldratt:

This book is required

reading at the Harvard

Business School. It is a

novel that brilliantly and

engagingly teaches the

theory of constraints.

Success in business is

accomplished by

identifying primary

constraints to growth and

relieving those constraints.

The Goal teaches you how

to do both!

9. The Advantage by

Patrick Lencioni:

Your company culture eats

your company strategy for

breakfast! Patrick Lencioni

shows you how to create

a healthy company culture

that is accountable,

engaged and committed to

your vision. One of the

great business books of all

time!

10. The Compound Effect

by Darren Hardy:

It’s the thousands of little

decisions that we make

every day that compound

over time to put us where

we are today. This book

eliminates the excuse of

blaming others or outside

circumstances for our

failures. Success is in our

control. The Compound

Effect provides the

disciplines necessary to

reinvent ourselves and tap

into our full potential.

11. The 4 Disciplines of

Execution by

McChesney, Covey, &

Huling:

I couldn’t pick just 10, so

here’s a bonus book!

Execution is the process of

transforming revenue into

profit. This book provides

the 4 disciplines essential

to superb execution and

profit.

These are my top 11 books

I’ve read on business. If you

want to build a successful

company, you must have an

appetite for personal growth.

Many business leaders have

amassed great wealth by

applying the knowledge

contained within these books.

© Copyright, Robert Garibay

About the Author: Rob Garibay is a business owner,

business expert & coach,

certified with Gazelles

International, ActionCOACH,

and Engage & Grow, as well as a

John Maxwell Founding Partner

Leadership Coach. His

professional career spans

building businesses in

manufacturing, R&D,

distribution, retail, and IT. Rob

has been a guest lecturer at The

University of Oklahoma Price

College of Business and also a

weekly contributor to The

Norman Transcript Sunday

Business section.

Rob is the author of the book

Energize Your Profits and

contributing author to Roadmap

to Success, both available on

Amazon.com. He has achieved

#3 ranking in the USA and #15

in the world among over 1400

ActionCOACH business

coaches.

Rob is a graduate of the Case

School of Engineering, Case

Western Reserve University. He

co-founded and grew a

technology business which he

sold after 15 years.

Rob has written business plans

that have raised $30 million in

investment capital.

He is passionate about helping

business owners successfully

scale their mid-sized

businesses by applying the

Rockefeller Habits and 4

Decisions concepts to their

companies.

Rob lives in Norman.

Oklahoma with his wife of 39+

years and loves to scuba dive

and ski.

Co-ordinates: Facebook:

http://on.fb.me/1U42xpp

Twitter: http://bit.ly/20pkfUh

LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/1T8tGXv

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

16

Many people know that one of the

best ways to describe their work is

to tell a short story. The words "For example, I'm currently working

with..." can breathe life into many a

dull value-proposition.

The most common pitfall is that

of telling a story that is all about

you. Not only does this sound

egotistical (largely because it is),

it misses out on several key

ways in which stories can

highlight the value of your

services.

Golden rule: tell stories about

your customers, not about you.

This is where the value of your

work lies. Their struggles, risks,

issues provide the essential

"backlighting" that makes your

expertise and experience

especially valuable.

When a professional talks about

a typical client, they educate

others about whom they serve.

This aspect is usually missing in

the "self-story". When your

story stars your customer (and

their success), you become

easier to refer.

Finally, a customer story can

include the ripple-effects of value

that the self-story cannot. For

example, you saved your client

money... that's the outcome. The

value lies in the ripple-effects of

the outcome: for example, with

the money saved, they were able

to make a new investment which

in turn enabled them to

increase revenue, have less stress

and build a stronger identity in

their market. That's value.

So, if this is all true, why are

there so many boring self-stories

all over the marketplace: on

websites, presentations and at

networking events? There are

many reasons. A common

thread with our clients is an

honest desire to demonstrate

credibility. This all-too-easily

translates into self-justification,

or a preoccupation with our

"special identity".

The good news is that if we start

from a deep sense of self-worth

(both as individuals and

organisations) we can drop this

preoccupation with proving

ourselves. There is no need for

the self-story. We are free to

focus our attention on our

customers, which is where the

value of our services lies.

© Copyright, John Niland

About the Author John Niland is best-known as a

conference speaker on doing

higher value work and creating

more opportunity via better

conversations. His passion is

energising people: boosting

growth through higher energy

levels, that in turn leads to

better dialogue and business

growth.

Since 2000, John has been

coaching others to achieve

success, with a particular passion

for supporting professionals

“who wish to contribute rather

than just to win, and hence do

higher value work via better

conversations with clients and

colleagues”.

In parallel, John is one of the co-

founders of the European Forum

of Independent Professionals,

following twelve years of

coaching >550 professionals to

create more value in their work.

Author of The Courage to Ask

(together with Kate Daly),

Hidden Value and 100 Tips to Find

Time.

Co-ordinates Tel: Belgium (0032) 32 2 201 1121

or London: +44 (0) 845 644 3407

Email: john@vco-global.com

Web: www.johnniland.com/about/

John Niland

Who is your story about?

THE SELF-WORTH SAFARI

Summary: Self-Worth Safari is a pilot project, running this autumn. Its objective is to empower participants to switch from

self-esteem to self-worth, as a basis of life and work. People with a deep sense of self-worth make better leaders, determined professionals and courageous negotiators. More

about this here: http://www.vco-global.com/2017/03/10/self-worth-the-

foundation-for-value/

As this is a pilot, there is no fee as such, though two of the

groups below will attract a small charge to cover meeting

expenses. There are now four groups, from which to choose:

• BRUSSELS - There will be a weekly meeting at John's home in Brussels at 7.30pm on the following dates -

Mondays, October 16th, 23rd, 30th and November 6th, 20th and 27th. No fee.

• LONDON - There will be a one day workshop to start

this off on Saturday October 7th, followed by weekly teleconferences on the following dates - Mondays, October

16th, 23rd, 30th and November 6th, 20th and 27th at 1pm UK time. £55 charge to cover expenses.

• ONLINE - This group will also take place via a weekly

teleconference on the following dates - an intro session on Tuesday October 3rd, followed by six sessions on

Tuesdays, October 17th, 24th, 31st. and November 7th, 21st and 28th at 1pm BRUSSELS TIME / 12noon UK TIME. No fee.

• SICILY WEEKEND - This will be an intensive weekend

in a beautiful, inspiring country hotel, perched over Siracusa

in Sicily, on October 27-29th: condensing the 6 week course. This can be attended on its own or as an addition to the options above. There is no fee as such, but there is a

modest cost of to cover accommodation and food for the

weekend (£325 / €375). Places are limited to six people.

We have exclusive use of the hotel for the weekend and will have some time for an inspiring walk in the surrounding countryside.

Please email Pam (info@vco-global.com with your preferred

group, so that she can send you detailed joining instructions.

When you possess real self-worth, you are not obsessed with proving things to yourself. An unconditional sense of your own

worth gives you a new lease of happiness and freedom. You develop energy and stamina. You recover quickly from setbacks and develop confidence that you can develop and

grow. You are not afraid of people or situations, because you trust your power to deal with them. Being able to say Yes and

No, you negotiate with new clarity and confidence. Your relationships improve. You tackle hitherto difficult tasks with fresh energy and purpose. And your self-esteem grows too...

precisely because you are not chasing that objective.

If you would like to join the pilot version of the Self-Worth Safari, please email Pam with your preferred option.

PS: The Self-Worth Safari is also available as a speaking topic.

Contact Pam for details: info@vco-global.com

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

17

Most people hate one-way presentations. You know the type of

thing – the presenter talks; the

audience listens (or doesn’t).

But everyone prefers it when it’s

interactive. It’s easier for the

presenter – they don’t have to do

all the talking. It’s miles more

engaging for the audience.

So, interactivity is good.

But here’s a question for you: on a

scale of 1-10, how interactive are

your presentations?

Any score under eight is too

low. You want your audience

more involved than that. Here's

how to bump up your score…

Remember: if you want

presentations to be interactive,

your audience has to say

something.

And that’ll only happen because of

one of two reasons:

• They proactively chip-in; or

• They answer your questions

The trouble with the first is…

they might not.

So, the only way to guarantee your

presentations are interactive is to

ask good questions.

So, when you prepare, as well as

doing slides and run-throughs, you

also need to script and practise the

questions you’ll ask. And aim for at

least one question on every slide.

These questions should be both

First Questions and Second

Questions (where you probe into

their answers to your Firsts).

For example, one of my

customers recently delivered a

sales pitch which contained a slide

“The four main benefits of

choosing us”.

It was a beautifully-crafted slide,

packed with compelling benefits…

But, until I intervened, they were

planning to show the slide, read

the benefits, and then hurtle to

the next slide.

So, we scripted and practised

questions. And, on the day, this

slide was up for over ten minutes.

And their questions went like

this…

• So these are the four benefits

that we see. What do you

think of them?

• And have we missed any?

• Which of these benefits is

most important to your

business?

• Why’s that?

• So how quickly would you like

to get that benefit?

• Why’s that?

• We can jump on that

immediately for you. Have

you got the capacity to work

with us on it now?

• That all sounds great. But do

you have any concerns about

how this might work?

• I have a few thoughts as to

how we could overcome that.

But, before I share those, what

do you think we could do

about this?

• Why’s that?

• How about if we also did X?

• So, we’ve agreed the main

benefit is XXXX. What do

you think is the next most

critical?

• Why’s that?

• And so on

As I said, this slide was up for over

ten minutes. Read all these

questions out loud and it takes

one minute max. That means the

audience was talking for nine of

the ten minutes. Fully interactive.

Fully engaged. And you’ll never

guess what…

… my customer won the

business. The feedback they got:

“We absolutely got the benefits

you’re bringing us, how quickly

they’ll happen and our role in

ensuring they happen. It was a no-

brainer choosing you.”

If you and I were chatting now –

rather than you reading my email

– I would have scripted and

practised this question to ask you

now – “when’s your next

presentation that you can use this

technique?”

But we aren’t chatting. So…

Action point

Identify the next presentation you’re

doing, where you could incorporate

more questions.

Then, script and practise them –

both First and Seconds. Such that

these questions feel as comfortable

to you as your content.

© Copyright, Andy Bounds

About the Author Andy Bounds is an expert at

helping companies communicate

and sell better. Author of two

best-selling books and winner of

the title Britain’s Sales Trainer of

the Year, Andy has shared his

expertise with some of the

world’s largest companies, helping

every one of them have more

success. Marketing legend Drayton

Bird said Andy had taught him ‘…

more about effective

communicating than a lady who’d

taught two American Presidents’.

Are you following me on twitter?

To receive my weekly tips on how

to communicate more effectively,

click here

Short of time? Here are my Quick

Wins

Co-ordinates E-mail: andy@andybounds.com Web: www.andybounds.com/tips

Andy Bounds

Make your presentations

interactive and interesting

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

18

According to the Office for

National Statistics (ONS), UK

productivity has fallen to levels it held in 2007. Productivity in the

UK has consistently lagged well

behind Germany and France and

has now been overtaken by many

other countries as this OECD chart shows. This is the key

reason why wages, growth and

competitive performance are all

held back. Why is this and what can be done about it? Let’s start

with some likely causes:

1. Low Capital Investment.

British firms have been

reluctant to invest in the

capital equipment and

processes necessary to

improve productivity. Why

invest large sums now when

the future is so unclear -

especially with all the

uncertainty surrounding

Brexit?

2. Cheap Labour.

Why invest in an expensive

strawberry picking machine

when you get plenty of East

European labourers to pick

the fruit and pay them the

minimum wage? Ironically we

may need labour shortages

and higher wages to provide

incentives to find smarter and

more productive ways to do

things.

3. Creaking Infrastructure.

Much of the UK basic

infrastructure is strained and

overloaded. Look at the roads

and railways. As traffic

congestion increases care

workers, salesmen and

delivery drivers all take longer

to make their journeys. They

make fewer calls in a day -

reducing their productivity.

4. Slow decisions or no

decisions.

Consider the desperate need

for increased airport capacity

in the south-east of England.

While China builds more

airports we cannot make a

decision on where one extra

runway should be placed.

Weak political leadership,

lobby groups, regulation and

enquiries lead to a paralysis of

decision making and action.

5. Low skills.

Low educational standards

particularly in scientific and

technical fields are holding

back the economy. We have

critical skill shortages in

engineering, software, data

analysis and IT. Who is going

to design and program the

robots?

6. Resistance to change.

Many organisations in the

private and public sectors are

operating in their comfort

zones busily doing what they

are doing. Managers and staff

are often risk averse and

reluctant to change. Look at

the opposition to driver

operated trains on Southern

Rail.

Most attempts to reform the

NHS are met by a chorus of

criticism but we need more

experimentation and bold

reforms if we are to find

better ways to meet the needs

of a growing and aging

population.

7. Lack of innovation.

Small firms in the UK are

leaders in innovation but many

large firms are sluggish. Local

government has had to

introduce many innovations in

order to cope with cuts but

central government, the NHS

and major state bodies are just

not innovating fast enough (or

at all). Consider Parliament as

a metaphor - it seems to revel

in its archaic practices.

8. Low investment in

Research and

Development.

The UK spends less than 0.5%

of GDP on publicly funded

research putting it at the

bottom of the G8 nations on

this key indicator.

9. Employees who are not

engaged.

The UK ranked 18th out of 20

leading countries in a survey of

employee engagement

involving 7,000 respondents by

research firm ORC

International.

Only 37 per cent of UK

workers surveyed felt they

were encouraged to be

innovative and fewer than half

felt valued at work, according

to HR magazine. This reflects

the next point.

Paul Sloane

Eleven reasons for the UK’s poor

productivity

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

19

10. Poor management.

If employees lack motivation,

feel unvalued and lack

engagement then it is the fault

of managers. Poorly trained or

incompetent managers are the

major cause of employee

dissatisfaction at work.

11. Poor leadership.

It is the job of the leaders at

all levels to set the strategy

and vision, to inspire and

motivate their teams and to

create a culture of progress

and innovation. This plainly is

not happening in many sectors.

Improving productivity in the

UK is not a matter of getting

people to work harder. It

involves training, investment,

innovation and finding smarter

ways to do things. Above all

we need to improve the

quality of management and

leadership across the board.

© Copyright, Paul Sloane

About the Author: Paul was part of the team

which launched the IBM PC in

the UK in 1981. He became

MD of database company

Ashton-Tate. In 1993 Paul

joined MathSoft, publishers of

mathematical software as VP

International.

He became CEO of

Monactive, a British software

company which publishes

software asset management

tools. In 2002 he founded his

own company, Destination

Innovation, which helps

organisations improve

innovation. He writes and

speaks on lateral thinking and

innovation. His latest book is

The Leader’s Guide to Lateral

Thinking Skills published by

Kogan-Page.

Co-ordinates: Web: www.destination-

innovation.com E-mail: psloane@destination-

innovation.com Tel: +44 (0)7831 112321

Many highly intelligent

people are poor thinkers. Many people of average

intelligence are skilled

thinkers. The power of a car

is separate from the way the

car is driven.

Studies have shown that

90% of error in thinking is

due to error in perception. If you can change your

perception, you can change

your emotion and this can

lead to new ideas.

An expert is someone who

has succeeded in making

decisions and judgements

simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and

what to ignore.

Dealing with complexity is an

inefficient and unnecessary waste of time, attention and

mental energy.

There is never any

justification for things being complex when they could be

simple.

Edward de Bono -

Edward de Bono is a

Maltese physician,

psychologist, author,

inventor and consultant

psychologist. He

originated the term

lateral thinking.

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

20

Meetings aren’t exactly the most

popular workplace activity, as

illustrated by this passage from the

book jPod by Douglas Coupland:

Here’s my theory about meetings

and life; the three things you

can’t fake are erections,

competence and creativity. That’s

why meetings become toxic—

they put uncreative people in a

situation in which they have to be

something they can never be.

And the more effort they put into

concealing their inabilities, the

more toxic the meeting becomes.

One of the most common

creativity-faking tactics is when

someone puts their hands in

prayer position and conceals

their mouth while they nod at

you and say, “Mmmmmmm.

Interesting.??? If pressed, they’ll

add, “I’ll have to get back to you

on that.??? Then they don’t say

anything else.

Web company 37signals

consider meetings harmful

because:

• They break your working day

into small, incoherent pieces

on a schedule incompatible

with the natural breaks in

your flow

• They are normally all about

words and abstract concepts,

not real things (like a piece

of code or a screen of

design)

• They usually contain an

abysmal low amount of

information conveyed per

minute

• They often contain at least

one moron that inevitably get

his turn to waste everyone’s

time with nonsense

• They drift off subject easier

than a rear-wheel driven

Chicago cab in heavy snow

• They frequently have

agendas so vague nobody is

really sure what its about

• They require thorough

preparation that people

rarely do anyway

I kinda agree. That is certainly

how meetings are in many

companies. The weekly

department meeting, the

project status meeting and the

monthly division meeting are

all seen as boring, a waste of

time, painful and something

that simply keeps people from

getting real work done.

Last year, The Guardian

mentioned a study that

showed that meetings make

people very unhappy at work,

and that the more meetings

one has to attend and the

more time one spends in

meetings, the greater the

negative effects. This becomes

especially depressing in the

face of the fact that overall

time spent in meetings is rising

in most countries, and that

some people, especially

managers, spend most of their

work day in meetings.

Now, while having fewer

meetings is definitely the way

to go in many workplaces,

eliminating all meetings is not

an option in today’s team-

based work environment. This

means that having good

meetings become essential.

So what is a good meeting?

They are:

• Efficient – So stuff gets

done!

• Positive and fun – So

people enjoy themselves

and look forward to the

next meeting.

• Participative – So

everyone participates

equally, instead of just

zoning out or faking

agreement.

• Open – So people say

what they really think.

• Creative – So the

thinking goes beyond the

usual and into new

territory.

The usual tips you’ll hear for

managing meetings are kinda

OK. You know, stuff like

“have an agenda and distribute

it in time”, “make sure to have

the right people present”,

Alexander Kjerulf

Five weird tips for great meetings

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

21

“make sure to start and end

on time” and “only have a

meeting when necessary”. All

good advice, but it does not

address the goals above. This

means that though most

companies and teams follow

this typical advice, many

meetings still suck.

If we really want open, fun,

creative, participative meetings

we need to go beyond the

standard advice and venture

into slightly-weird-land. Here

are five easy ways to do it.

1: Open the meeting with

a positive round

Psychological experiments

have shown that the way a

meeting starts, sets the tone

for the whole meeting. Start

the meeting with complaints,

problems and mutual blame,

and that’s what you’ll get.

But if you start out with

something positive, the rest of

the meeting is more likely to

be more fun. The best way to

start a meeting positively, is to

ask each participant to briefly

(= less than 30 seconds) share

something positive. Here are

some ideas:

• Name one thing you’ve

accomplished since the last

meeting that you’ve been

proud of?

• Name a person who has

helped you since the last

meeting.

• Mention one thing you’re

looking forward to in the

coming week/month?

• What’s the funniest thing

someone has told you in

the last week?

• Mention something

interesting you’ve learned

since the last meeting.

This sets a much better tone

for the rest of the meeting –

and it’s also a lot more fun

than opening with an endless

litany of complaints and

problems.

2: Interrupt the meeting

regularly

I know you want to make the

most of your meeting time –

and that makes it tempting to

think that “MAN, we have a

long agenda today – let’s skip

the breaks and get more

done.” Only thing is, it doesn’t

work that way.

You need to interrupt the

flow of the meeting regularly.

This keeps people’s minds

focused and it makes the

whole thing more fun and

relaxed. Here’s how.

First of all: A five-minute break

every hour is not an option,

it’s mandatory! You can’t have

a productive meeting if half the

people present are seriously in

need of a restroom visit.

Secondly: Every half hour, do a

quick two-minute creative

break of some kind. You can:

Get people to stand up and

stretch, have a quick rock-

paper-scissor tournament, ask

everyone to tell their neighbor

a riddle or a joke, whatever.

Make it something fun and

light-hearted that activates

people in some way.

So, if you have a two-hour

meeting starting at 1PM,

include these breaks:

1 PM: Meeting starts

1:30 PM: Two-minute creative

break

2 PM: Five-minute break

2:30 PM: Two-minute creative

break

3 PM: Meeting ends

Bring a kitchen timer and set it

to 30 minutes, to make sure

you remember the creative

breaks.

3: Lose the table

What purpose do tables really

serve at a meeting, except to

give you a place to put down

your coffee cup and to keep

your head from hitting the

floor when you fall asleep?

Traditional meeting room. Note

the huge distance from one end

to the other and the place of

honour at the head of the table.

There are many advantages to

table-less meetings:

• People are freer to move

around, instead of being

locked into one sitting

position.

• Communication flows

better, because you can

see the entire person, not

just from the chest up.

• You increase participation,

because people can’t

simply slump down and

hide throughout the

meeting.

• You can get people closer

together. If you seat 20

people around a table, the

distance from one end to

the other is going to be

huge.

• Seating people in a circle

signals that everyone is

equal. It’s democratic,

unlike the normal meeting

table, where the boss sits

at the head of the table.

So instead of meeting around a

table, simply put the required

number of chairs in a circle

with nothing in the middle. If

you’re going to be looking at a

lot of plans or papers, hang

them on the wall and arrange

the chairs in a semi-circle in

front of them.

4: Get the body in there

Your body is not good at

sitting still for extended

periods of time. The longer

you sit still, the stiffer and

tired the body gets. And when

the body is tired and stiff, so is

the mind.

A very simple thing to do is to

get people to stand up and

stretch. It only takes a minute

to:

1. Get everyone to stand up.

2. Bounce on your feet for

10 seconds, just to get the

blood flowing.

3. Stretch your arms up

towards the ceiling – as

high as you can.

4. Keep your arms up and

lean to the right. Hold for

10 seconds.

5. Lean to the left, hold.

6. Lean back, hold.

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

22

7. Lean forward, touch your

toes.

8. Sit back down.

You can do it at the beginning

of the meeting, after every

break or whenever you sense

that people are zoning out and

losing focus.

Try this one day in a meeting,

and you will discover that

once you’ve stretched your

body, your mind will feel

fresher, more flexible and

more creative.

5: Use strategically placed

silence

This is probably the one thing

you find in no meetings. I

mean – the purpose of

meetings is to talk, right.

Silence defeats that purpose,

doesn’t it?

No. The purpose of meetings

is not to talk – the purpose of

meetings is to arrive at ideas,

solutions, plans and decisions

in such a way that:

1. The ideas are so good that

they can be carried out.

2. The process that leads to

the ideas is so good that

people want to carry the

ideas out.

And in this respect, silence can

be a great tool. Because while

some people can think while

they’re talking – most can’t.

A well-placed two-minute

silent break is a great chance

for people to stop and think.

To figure out what the deeper

issues are. To see the solution

that is not immediately

obvious. To find out how they

feel about the issues being

discussed.

Here are some ways to use it:

• When discussing an issue,

focus first on presenting

the facts without

discussing solutions. Have

two minutes of silence,

then discuss solutions.

• If discussions become

heated, and it seems like

no progress is made, two

minutes of silence can be a

great way to cool the

whole thing down.

• When a decision has been

made, give people two

minutes of silence to think

about how they feel about

this decision.

The way you do it is that at

the appropriate time, you

announce a two-minute

silence, and you keep track of

time and let people know

when the two minutes have

passed.

And let me warn you right

away: It feels very strange the

first few times. It’s funny that

silence should be so

threatening, but because most

meetings are all about the

talking, and we’ve come to

think that silence is awkward.

That if no one’s talking,

something is wrong. After

you’ve done it a few times, it

becomes a lot easier, and it

can even be very pleasant to

take a break from all the

talking!

The upshot

Time spent in meetings is

constantly increasing. Bad

meetings suck the life force

out of people, leaving them

tired and unhappy at work.

Bad meetings also lead to bad

decisions, reduced motivation

and conflicts.

If we really want fun, positive

meetings, where all

participants can speak their

mind, where new ideas are

generated and developed and

where the time is used as

efficiently as possible, we need

to go beyond the usual advice

and try something slightly

weird. This blogpost presents

some ways you can do that.

Yes, adding these things to a

meeting will take a little time

out of the schedule, but I think

we all know that the problem

with bad meetings is not how

much time we spend in them –

it’s the quality of that time. It’s

whether we spend that time

being energized, creative and

having fun – or whether we

spend it wishing we could be

back at our desks doing some

real work.

What about you? What

unusual methods do you use

to make meetings fun, creative

and efficient? How do good or

bad meetings affect your

energy and motivation? Have

you tried any of the tips

mentioned here? Write a

comment, I’d really like to

know your take.

© Copyright, Alexander

Kjerulf

About the Author Alexander is the founder and

Chief Happiness Officer of

Woohoo inc and one of the

world’s leading experts on

happiness at work. He is an

author and speaker, presenting

and conducting workshops on

happiness at work at

businesses and conferences in

over 30 countries. His clients

include companies like Hilton,

Microsoft, LEGO, IKEA, Shell,

HP and IBM.

Alex is the author of 4 books

including the international

bestseller Happy Hour is 9 to

5 – How to Love Your Job,

Love Your Life and Kick Butt

at Work.

Co-ordinates Web:

http://positivesharing.com

Email:

alexander@woohooinc.com

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

23

That will be, and should be, the

mantra for commerce during 2017.

Momentum will precede profits,

sustainable growth, enhanced

productivity, more expeditious

decision-making and, above all

else, improved confidence.

It is indisputable that the

calendar year 2016 was a period

of economic slow-down for

many sectors, regions and

entities. In reality, it is arguable

that Western Australia,

Queensland and South Australia

experienced recessionary

conditions, albeit the term was

imperceptible to many.

Supportive facts are self-evident

– staff numbers were reduced,

inventories cleaned out,

networks refined, staff training

and development were trimmed

and brought in-house, bank

balances reduced, dividends cut

and capital expenditure

suspended, delayed or reduced.

The impacts were cascading and

incremental.

Forecasts for, and the

manifestations of, economic up-

turns during 2017 should,

prudently, include recognition of

considerable lead-time before

buoyancy and “boom”

conditions return.

Appreciable under-utilisation,

under-employment and low

output ratios, like stock-turns

and productivity, abound.

Therefore, astute business

leaders, analysts and strategists

will remain measured in their

enthusiasm and forecasts until

two key terms and concepts can

be and are expressed

collectively:

Momentum and Critical Mass.

Hence, use of the metaphor

“the green-shoots of economic

activity” may prove appropriate

for the southern hemisphere.

Springtime, beginning in

September, seems to be an

ambitious but realistic

expectation.

In the meantime there will be no

short-cuts for the hard work

and deployment of resources

necessary to get the wheels of

commerce turning faster.

Pastoralists will confirm that

considerable time elapses being

sowing and harvesting. Oh! –

and don’t dismiss the possibility

and the variability of changeable

weather, storms and (head)

winds.

© Copyright, Barry Urquhart

About the Author: Barry Urquhart, Managing

Director, Marketing Focus,

Perth, is an inspiring speaker,

author of Australia’s top two

selling books on customer

service and an international

consultant on dynamic

innovation and creativity.

Barry is author of six books,

including the two largest selling

publications on service

excellence in Australasia. He is

a regular commentator of

consumer issues on ABC radio,

is featured on a series of

interview topics on “Today

Tonight” and contributes articles

to 47 magazines throughout the

world.

He is one of Australia’s most

active keynote speakers and is

an internationally recognised

authority on quality customer

service, consumer behaviour and

creative visual merchandising.

Marketing Focus is a Perth based

market research and strategic

planning practice. The firm and

Barry consult to multinational,

national and local entities in the

private sector and the public

sector. He is a former lecturer

in Marketing and Management at

the Curtin University of

Technology and has degrees in

marketing, political science and

sociology.

Co-ordinates Mail: 26 Central Road,

Kalamunda, Western Australia

6076

Tel - Office: 006 1089 257 1777

Tel - Mobile: 006 1041 983 5555

E-mail:

Urquhart@marketingfocus.net.au

Website:

www.marketingfocus.net.au

Barry Urquhart

Momentum

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

24

Sadly, in many companies there is

still the old-fashioned command-

and-control management culture,

which usually has a strong blame

component. That is, if something goes wrong, managers look for

someone to blame. Questions are

asked such as ‘Whose fault was

that?’ or ‘Who is to blame for this mess?’

The net effect is that people

will be very unwilling to take

any initiative at all, since if they

make even a small mistake,

they will get metaphorically

hung at dawn. This clearly

lowers motivation to do

anything out of the ordinary,

as the consequences are

unpredictable.

Another by-product of this

kind of blame approach is that

people will seek to hide

mistakes, and of course the

damage done can grow while a

mistake stays hidden.

If people are unwilling to make

any decisions on their own,

they will need explicit

delegation for every task –

they will need micro-managing

– and this is a huge drain on

management time. They will

also have low motivation to

do the work involved, which

again results on a huge drain

on management time as you

cajole and push people into

compliance in order to get the

work done.

The cure for micro-

management

If you find that you are micro-

managing people and even end

up doing lots of tasks yourself,

this could be because of the

way you react when

something goes wrong.

Think back over the last few

times a mistake was made by

someone on your team and

remember how you reacted.

Now put yourself in the shoes

of your team member and

notice how you would feel to

be on the receiving end of

such behaviour.

The cure for micro-

management is to trust people

and have tolerance for the

inevitable errors that will

occur from time to time. This

can seem like a tall order if a

blame culture is in place. The

road to a blame-free

environment can be a long one

as people seek to come to

terms with the new way you

are doing things.

The best place to start is to

get the delegation right in the

first place – see

the Delegation topic and also

the topic on Empowerment.

You then need to think

carefully before you respond

to the inevitable mistakes that

are made. Rather than the

questions that seek to find

someone to blame, there are

better questions to ask.

Better questions

Think about your outcome.

What is it you really want to

happen after a mistake is

made? Ask questions such as

• What happened?

• How can we correct the

results we got?

• What do we want to

happen instead?

• How can we set things up

so it can’t happen again?

• What do we need to learn

from this?

• How can we improve

what we do?

Questions of this type will

help people look forward to

doing the task right next time.

And notice the use of the

word ‘we’. There is no finger

of blame pointing here. It is all

about working together to get

the tasks done.

People will respond to this,

and will generally be more

motivated to do the tasks and

also to do them without

mistakes.

Outcomes

Another cure for micro-

management is to ensure the

people on your team know

what you, through their

actions, are seeking to achieve.

They need to know what your

outcomes are. If they don’t

know, and they come to a

decision to do A or B, they

will be unable to continue

without asking you what you

want them to do. If they do

know, they will feel able to

make a well-judged decision

on which option to do. They

will be able to guess which you

would have chosen.

Paul Matthews

The effect of a blame culture

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

25

This is all part of the process

of empowering people, which

leads to higher levels of

motivation for their job and

makes life easier for you, their

manager.

© Copyright, Paul Matthews

About the Author Paul Matthews is People

Alchemy’s founder and managing

director. Paul’s key skill is in

making the ideas come alive with

stories, and making sure his

listeners receive practical tools

and tips to take away and

implement.

Paul is a regular speaker at HR and

L&D events and exhibitions

covering topics such as harnessing

the power of informal learning,

capability at work, workplace

performance, and how L&D can

be effective in these tough times.

Paul is the author of Informal

Learning at Work: How to Boost

Performance in Tough Times,

praised as ‘a thought provoking

practical book with ideas and

insightful examples which

challenges us all to embrace

informal learning’. The book

explains how companies can

harness the power of informal

learning using practical advice

from workplace learning experts

and practical examples and case

studies from around the world.

His 2014 book Capability at Work:

How to Solve the Performance Puzzle

has also been widely acclaimed as

a ‘must’ for anyone in HR or

learning and development.

Co-ordinates Address: People Alchemy,

Alchemy House, 17 Faraday

Drive, Milton Keynes, MK5 7DD

Tel: +44 (0)1908 325 167

Email:

info@peoplealchemy.co.uk

Linkedin: linkedin.com Twitter:

twitter.com/peoplealchemy

TIP

One of the best tools for transforming

a blame culture is to adopt a coaching

management style. This involves a

more collaborative approach. Look at

the topic on Coaching to improve

your coaching skills.

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

26

When companies reach a certain level of success, they often take

their foot off the gas pedal. Here's

why Jeff Bezos thinks that's a very

bad idea.

Since the beginning, Jeff Bezos

has been reminding his team

that at Amazon, it is always

Day 1. Every year, he

reinforces the company's

commitment to this

philosophy by republishing the

1997 letter to shareholders in

which he mapped out the Day

1 approach.

Here's how he described his

vision for Amazon:

This is Day 1 for the Internet

and, if we execute well, for

Amazon.com. Today, online

commerce saves customers

money and precious time.

Tomorrow, through

personalization, online

commerce will accelerate the

very process of discovery.

Amazon.com uses the Internet

to create real value for its

customers and, by doing so,

hopes to create an enduring

franchise, even in established

markets. ... Though we are

optimistic, we must remain

vigilant and maintain a sense of

urgency.

That sense of urgency is what

keeps Amazon acting like an

aggressive startup two

decades later, even though the

company earns more than

$100 billion annually.

Often, when companies reach

a degree of success, they take

their foot off the gas pedal.

They get to a certain revenue

number, reach a tipping point

with the number of employees

on staff, and then they try to

figure out how to act more

like a mature company.

In doing so, they end up

abandoning the traits that

enabled them to achieve their

level of success in the first

place. No bueno.

Being a big company doesn't

mean you have to stop acting

like an aggressive startup. And

it doesn't mean you have to

lose that sense of urgency that

existed in the early days of

your business that fueled your

growth.

Amazon proves this is

possible.

Bezos was recently asked what

Day 2 looks like. He was frank

with his response In his 2016

letter to shareholders:

Day 2 is stasis. Followed by

irrelevance. Followed by

excruciating, painful decline.

Followed by death. And that is

why it is always Day 1.

Bezos expounded on what the

Day 2 decline actually looks

like for companies that find

themselves in it:

To be sure, this kind of decline

would happen in extreme slow

motion. An established

company might harvest Day 2

for decades, but the final

result would still come.

Ouch.

The good news is, Bezos

provides clear advice on how

to keep your company acting

like a startup with a sense of

urgency. He breaks it down

into four key areas.

1. Obsess over customers

Business is about creating

value for your customers. To

do that consistently over time,

you have to be relentless

about solving your customers'

Sonia Thompson

Why Amazon still acts like a start-up (even

though it makes more than $100 billion a year)

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

27

problems like none other. You

have to create an experience

for them that makes them feel

like no other option will do.

According to Bezos, this is the

most important aspect of

being a Day 1 company. He

notes, "Even when they don't

know it, customers want

something better, and your

desire to delight your

customers will drive you to

invent on their behalf."

2. Resist proxies

Processes are important

because they help you operate

efficiently and effectively. They

help you deliver the same level

of quality to your customers

over and over again. But if

you're not careful, your

processes will run you.

Bezos explained the danger

from this approach in his 2016

letter:

This can happen very easily in

large organizations. The

process becomes the proxy

for the result you want. You

stop looking at outcomes and

just make sure you're doing

the process right. ... A

remarkable customer

experience starts with heart,

intuition, curiosity, play, guts,

taste. You won't find any of it

in a survey.

3. Embrace external

trends

Independent of what is

happening within your

company and the vision you

have for it, there are outside

forces that are changing the

way business is done. It is up

to you to see the trends and

embrace them, rather than

waiting until you are forced to

get on board.

Bezos described in his letter

why this is imperative: "If you

fight them, you're probably

fighting the future. Embrace

them and you have a tailwind."

4. Make high-velocity

decisions

When you were just starting

out, there was a ton of

information you didn't have.

So you had to work to make

the best decision with the data

that you had at your disposal.

You have to get comfortable

doing the same even when you

have the resources to get

more information that

provides you with a higher

level of certainty.

Bezos has a strong point of

view on this, citing in the

letter that "most decisions

should probably be made with

somewhere around 70

percent of the information you

wish you had. If you wait for

90 percent, in most cases,

you're probably being slow."

It's time to get back to Day 1.

No matter your size. No

matter how long you've been

in business.

© Copyright, Sonia Thompson

About the Author

Sonia Thompson is founder of

TRY Business School. After

earning her MBA, Sonia spent

9 years at Johnson & Johnson

growing million and billion

dollar healthcare brands

around the world. And now as

an entrepreneur, she helps

businesses get the customers

they want and keep them

coming back for more.

Sonia is the author of Delight

Inside: Build Your Dream

Business That Keeps Customers

Coming Back for More and its

companion workbook, host of

a top-rated business podcast,

and a columnist at Inc. She has

conducted more than 150

interviews with business

owners and have dissected

their best practices and keys

to success. And published

100+ articles and videos on

marketing, entrepreneurship,

and business around the web.

Sonia combines all those

experiences, from three

different worlds, academic,

corporate, and

entrepreneurship, to bring a

unique and dynamic

perspective that will give your

teams the information,

training, and tools you need to

transform your business into a

customer magnet.

Co-ordinates Twitter:

twitter.com/soniaethompson

Web: soniaethompson.com

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

28

Throwing darts in the dark?! As

so often happens when I write an

article, I hear someone say

something and it sparks off an idea to write about. I was at a talk

(can’t even remember who was

giving it!) but the speaker used the

expression, ‘It’s like throwing

darts in the dark’, meaning that if you don't have a goal to work

towards, you have no idea where

you are heading, and you might as

well be throwing ‘darts in the dark’. So, in preparing you for the

year ahead, I thought I would

share the idea with you.

If you cannot see where you

are heading you might go

wildly off course, or you might

even throw the odd dart in

the wrong direction and hurt

someone.

‘I look to the future because

that's where I am going to

spend the rest of my life.’

- George Burns

Is it important to have

goals?

Quite a few people shy away

from goals or targets for a

variety of reasons:

• Fear of failure, if they say

they’ll achieve X, how will

they look if they don't?

• Fear of success, how will

you handle it if everything

goes well, will others still

treat you the same?

• Not wanting to be tied

down to one particular

path.

• Wanting to let serendipity

be their guide.

• Feeling the pressure of

targets and goals, stressing

out about them, rather

than being motivated by

them.

However, my feeling is that life

is a bit like an ultra-marathon,

you could keep plodding on,

not particularly enjoying the

journey, or moving forward

from one task (or month) to

the next with no plan, or

perhaps even give up and start

to drift into unhelpful

behaviours or avenues. Or

you could map out your

journey, with staging posts or

milestones along the way.

And yes, I realise that I am

mixing my metaphors here,

from dart boards to

marathons but you get my

gist!

‘The ultimate goal should be

doing your best and

enjoying it.’

- Peggy Fleming 1948 US

Olympic Gold Medallist ice

skating

The value of milestones

I was talking to someone

recently who was saying that

the New Year is just an

arbitrary marker, which

people often use to beat

themselves up with as the

previous year draws to a close

and you feel you have not

achieved what you set out to

achieve that year.

Yet, just like a walk, we often

like to know how far we have

come and how far we have to

go, although I realise that for

some personality types they

are in the moment enjoying

the walk without a care about

the past or where they are

necessarily heading. More

about that later.

What will be your milestones?

How often do you feel you

need them: weekly? monthly?

annually? One of my coaching

clients sets her new year’s

resolutions on her birthday,

which in some ways makes

more sense, as it is a new year

for yourself.

Melanie Greene

Are you throwing darts in the dark?

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

29

‘If one does not know to

which port one is sailing, no

wind is favourable.’

- Seneca

Celebrations vs

recriminations

Working with many teams in

diverse organisations, a

constant complaint is that

good work or going the extra

mile rarely gets recognised,

whilst the moment a mistake

is made, boy, do they know

about it, and often quite

publicly as well, which is often

why I am being brought in to

the organisation or teams in

the first place.

During on-going programmes

with teams who are either in

conflict or simply trying to find

more effective ways of

working with each other, on

the 2nd workshop after some

121 coaching has happened, I

get them to share the

following:

• What successes have you

had?

• What challenges have you

faced?

• What have you learned

along the way?

Almost all teams comment on

the fact that they never share

their successes and how good

it feels to do that. They also

often ask me why I don't ask

them to share their mistakes

or things going wrong. I

explain that the challenges and

lessons learned are a much

more constructive way of

looking at mistakes and these

questions move people

beyond a mistake to lessons

learned.

Ask yourself the above

questions, perhaps for both in

and out of work. Ask your

colleagues, family members.

What do you want to

celebrate in your life?

What have you learned

along the way?

‘Human beings, who are

almost unique in having the

ability to learn from the

experience of others, are

also remarkable for their

apparent disinclination to

do so.’

- Douglas Adams

What does your dartboard

look like?

People often focus on just one

type of goal, when you can

have a variety of different

ones. I sometimes use the

‘Wheel of Life’ with coaching

clients if they want to look at

their whole life. There are lots

of different examples of

Wheels of Life online, see

here.

These kinds of instruments

can be useful to evaluate

where you are spending your

time and energy, and they look

a bit like a dartboard! You can

create your own which has

the sectors that are important

to you in your life.

While it is traditional to do

one, you could do one for

business or work, and another

for out of work.

Dartboard for

Business/Work – In which

areas do you need to focus

attention in the coming year?

This will vary depending on

your business or role but you

might want to think about:

• Core or essential

activities: daily, weekly,

monthly.

• Long term goals and

strategy.

• Relationships in the

workplace which need

fostering.

• Different roles that you

play.

• Administration.

• Personal and professional

development.

• Corporate social

responsibility.

Dartboard for Life – what is

important to you?

• Family and friends

• Partner

• Health and wellbeing:

physical, emotional and

mental.

• Career

• Money/finances

• Creativity and hobbies

• Recreation and fun

• Personal growth

• Life purpose

• Spirituality

• Voluntary work

Dartboard for Being – this

might be included in the

Dartboards above, or in a

separate one. It is important

to focus on not just what you

are going to be doing, or what

you want to have in your life,

how do you want to BE?

• Happy?

• Healthy?

• Content?

• Joyful?

• Relaxed?

• Trusting?

• Excited?

It is absolutely vital to do this

as otherwise you can find that

you are busy achieving and

doing but you feel exhausted,

stressed out, and dissatisfied.

I belong to a women’s group

which is called The New

Year’s Resolution Club (see

here), although it is much

more to do with your dreams

and goals, rather than

traditional New Year’s

Resolutions. We meet

monthly, and quarterly we

revisit our Wheel of Life. I find

it useful to annotate it with

different colours and date

them to see how my life ebbs

and flows as I go through the

year, and if there are any areas

that I am neglecting.

What will you include on

your dartboard or wheel

of life?

‘Learn from the past, set

vivid, detailed goals for the

future, and live in the only

moment of time over which

you have any control: now.’

- Denis Waitley

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

30

What darts do you have?

I know absolutely nothing

about darts!! However, I am

guessing that they do differ

and as with all sports

equipment, there are some

which are better than others.

So taking the analogy further

what darts do you need to

ensure that you can hit the

dartboard of life? Think about

your:

• Mindset: I have put this

first as your mindset will

have a big impact on all the

following points. See May

2016 Inspire here.

• Confidence or

conviction: I often ask

clients when they set

action plans, and I sense

that they are not 100%

convinced of achieving

them: ‘On a scale of 0 (‘It

is never going to happen’)

and 10 (‘Yes I am

absolutely sure it will

happen’) where are you?’ If

they are less than 8 we

discuss what is it that they

are concerned about? And

it is often when the really

deep work starts to take

place. See some of my past

editions of Inspire to assist

you with this: click here.

• Skills and Knowledge: Is

there some knowledge

that you need to learn or

skills you need to develop

or enhance in order to

achieve your goals?

• Resources: what

resources do you need to

draw on to keep yourself

moving forward? People,

financial, time? Do you

need a coach, mentor or

counsellor to help you

keep moving forward?

• Strategy: Many of us end

up being very good at fire-

fighting and we never find

time to sit back and create

a strategy.

Whether you want to find a

new job, develop a new hobby

or a new business idea in

2017, you need to have a plan

and strategy as to how you get

there.

‘Twenty years from now you

will be more disappointed

by the things that you didn't

do than by the ones you did

do. So throw off the

bowlines. Sail away from

the safe harbor. Catch the

trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.’

- Mark Twain

Keeping the light on the

analogy we started with was,

‘It is like throwing darts in the

dark’. Now you might have a

clear picture of the

dartboard/wheel of life for

2017, you might have your

darts to get you there but

how can you ensure the lights

stay on? What I mean by this

is when the going gets tough

how do you keep motivated

and inspired?

• Are you good at dealing

with obstacles? Our

ability to deal with

obstacles often makes the

difference between

success and failure: See my

February 2013 Inspire

here.

• Are you able to learn

from mistakes? Mistakes,

failures, slip ups will be

part of the journey, will

you end up simply beating

yourself up, or learn from

them and move on. See

my July 2008 Inspire here.

• Are you good at asking

for help? It is a delusion

to think that you can do it

all on your own. Our

ability to identify who can

support you and to ask for

support is an essential

ingredient in being

successful both in work

and outside of work: See

my February 2015 Inspire

here.

‘You will pass through

storms and heavy rains, and

at times you may suffer

defeat. The essence of the

creative life, however, is not

to give up in the face of

defeat, but to follow the

rainbow that exists within

your heart.’

- Daisaku Ikeda

© Copyright, Melanie Greene

About the Author Melanie is a Chartered

Occupational Psychologist,

coach, facilitator, trainer and

writer. She established her

own business in 1991 to

provide businesses and

organisations with ideas and

programmes that will make a

real difference to people’s

performance.

In January 2008 Melanie’s first

book ‘Master Your Inner

Critic, Release Your Inner

Wisdom’ was published. This

comes from Melanie’s own

experiences of using

techniques she created, and

then shared with clients.

Co-ordinates Tel: 01865 377334

Twitter: MelanieInspires

Email:

mg@inspiretransformation.co.

uk

Website: inspiretransformatio

n.co.uk/index.html

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

31

There are four fundamental paths

by which a business can grow: • Improve your offering

incrementally to increase

revenue and profits

• Innovate to create and

capture significant new

value

• Scale your operations to

reach new customers or

do more for existing ones

• Acquire other businesses

to build scale and/or

capabilities

The first three paths (improve,

innovate & scale) are the

“organic” options for growth,

where you take your existing

business and work over time

to help it grow. This is distinct

from growing in a more

discontinuous fashion through

acquiring other businesses and

integrating them in some way.

It is possible, even advisable in

many cases, to pursue multiple

paths to growth at once. This

can provide you with a

portfolio of growth

opportunities with different

characteristics and timeframes.

Which specific paths you

should follow depends on

your situation, objectives and

constraints.

Let’s zoom in on each of the

four paths to growth to look

at how they differ and what it

takes to follow each one

successfully…

Improvement

Continuous improvement is

the lifeblood of a successful

business. If you don’t improve

how you do things, you risk

losing relevance with

customers and getting left

behind by more agile

competitors. Improvements

are relatively small, focused

changes in your business

operations or offering that

help you become “better,

faster, or cheaper”1 i.e. they

improve your revenue, costs

and efficiencies.

Companies that are good at

this growth path encourage

their staff to regularly ask

“how can this be improved?”

and seek regular input from

customers and suppliers to

identify problems,

inconsistencies and

bottlenecks that they can seek

to resolve and improve.

Innovation

Innovation is about significant

and distinctive changes that

deliver real customer value. It

is typically a higher risk option

than simple improvements but

also offers the prospect of

significant growth above and

beyond business-as-usual.

Innovation is often achieved by

questioning key assumptions

and/or combining existing

technologies, business models

or concepts in new ways.

To innovate successfully, firms

to manage uncertainty and to

identify & explore promising

opportunities without killing

them too early with business-

as-usual metrics but also

without wasting resources

unnecessarily. Various

innovation methodologies

exist to help manage this

balancing act, although cultural

considerations are also

important (see the 5Cs of

Innovation)

Scaling

Scaling is the fastest way to

achieve sustainable organic

growth, as it focuses on doing

more of what you already do.

The two primary ways to scale

are to find more customers

for your existing offerings

and/or to sell more things to

your existing customers. This

assumes you have a well-

established offering and

customer base, plus the

systems & processes to

support significant growth in

volumes.

Investors love to support a

business that is ready to scale,

because so much of the risk

has been taken out of the

equation already. There’s

much less market and

technology risk compared to

innovations, and the upside is

more significant than

incremental improvements.

But it all comes down to how

well you can execute on the

scaling plan.

Xavier Russo

The four paths to business growth

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus June 2015

Better Business Focus September 2017

32

Important Notice © Copyright 2017, Bizezia Limited, All

Rights Reserved

This publication is published on our behalf

by Bizezia Limited. It is protected by

copyright law and reproduction in whole or

in part without the publisher’s written

permission is strictly prohibited. The

publisher may be contacted at

info@bizezia.com (+44 (0)1444 884220).

Some images in this publication are taken

from Creative Commons – such images

may be subject to copyright. Creative

Commons is a non-profit organisation that

enables the sharing and use of creativity and

knowledge through free legal tools.

Articles and information contained herein

are published without responsibility by us,

the publisher or any contributing author for

any loss howsoever occurring as a

consequence of any action which you take,

or action which you choose not to take, as

a result of this publication or any view

expressed herein. Whilst it is believed that

the information contained in this

publication is correct at the time of

publication, it is not a substitute for

obtaining specific professional advice and no

representation or warranty, expressed or

implied, is made as to its accuracy or

completeness.

The information is relevant within the

United Kingdom. These disclaimers and

exclusions are governed by and construed

in accordance with English Law.

Publication issued on 1 September 2017

Acquisition

Acquiring new businesses can

lead to rapid growth in

revenue and market

capitalisation… but it’s equally

true that mergers and

acquisitions (M&A) are a highly

effective way to destroy value

too. It takes a fundamentally

different skillset for companies

to identify good candidates,

conduct due diligence

properly, negotiate the right

deal, and manage the

integration process well.

The research shows that many

acquisitions destroy value and

on average the return to

acquirers is around zero.

Given that statistic, it’s curious

that the activity remains so

popular … but I suspect the

allure of rapid growth in

headline metrics is hard to

resist, particularly when

personal incentives are tied to

company size. Interestingly,

companies which acquire for

reasons of “market power”,

“diversification”, and “using

excess cash” are much more

likely to destroy value.

Nonetheless, there are plenty

of examples of companies that

have achieved profitable

growth via acquisition. This is

particularly true of “bolt-on”

acquisitions of smaller

companies that are focused on

complementing existing

offerings and where they have

a compatible culture.

Conclusion

This has been a quick review

of the four main paths to

achieving business growth:

Improvement, Innovation,

Scaling and Acquisition.

Each growth path has its own

characteristics and success

factors, and you would be

well-advised to consider your

particular situation and

objectives before deciding

which path (or multiple paths)

make sense for your business.

It’s also very important to

make sure you have a clear

understanding of exactly why

you want to grow and by how

much, and to have laid the

groundwork properly with

your existing business so you

are ready to grow successfully.

© Copyright, Xavier Russo

About the Author Xavier is a strategist, marketer

and entrepreneur with top-

tier consulting skills, an MBA,

and hands-on experience

launching & growing innovative

businesses. His professional

focus is on startup and growth

opportunities where a

combination of creativity &

strategy is needed to find the

right path.

As a consultant and

entrepreneur, Xavier has seen

the full lifecycle of business:

starting, growing, restructuring

& achieving a successful

merger/sale. As well as deep

experience in online & digital,

he has worked in industries as

diverse as software, mining,

sports/entertainment, financial

services, and retail.

Co-ordinates Web: xavierrusso.com

Email:

xavier@xavierrusso.com

Bizezia Limited Incorporated in England and Wales, Company Number 04017546.

Kingfisher House, Hurstwood Grange, Hurstwood Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH17 7QX, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1444 884220 Email: info@bizezia.com Web: www.bizezia.com

Online Business Library*** Bizezia’s Online Business Library is number one in the country with a comprehensive collection of nearly 700

professionally written and informative publications that you can offer free to your clients and prospects direct

from your website. These unique publications cover an extensive range of business topics from tax to marketing. The library allows you to add significant value to the service you offer to your clients and help

you to build relationships with prospective clients.

Better Business Focus***

Better Business Focus is a web-based monthly magazine that is personalised to your firm, underlining your

credentials as a specialist business adviser. It will strengthen your clients’ confidence in your firm and

demonstrate that you are a progressive and innovative organisation, willing to go that extra mile.

*** Now available in Kindle and iPad format

IMPORTANT MESSAGE If you want to out-pace your competitors and deliver cutting edge business improvement ideas to your

customers/clients, then subscribe now to Better Business Focus and Online Business Library today.

Own-branding is now available: Both Better Business Focus and Online Business Library can be delivered from

your own website with your own-branded corporate image to your clients and prospects. For details of subscription rates, visit Bizezia at: http://www.bizezia.com or call +44 (0) 1444 884220